Shane Halter signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with Detroit on Friday. I think the Tigers are markedly over paying Halter. He's an acceptable backup, but it's a stretch to consider him suitable for a full-time position. If they weren't investing this much capital in Halter, they might be able to sign a regular shortstop. The only excuse for giving him a two-year deal is to make him more attractive trade bait.

Russ Johnson also signed a two-year deal on Friday. While I don't feel Halter is worthy of a full-time position, Johnson likely deserves one, and the Devil Rays signed him for only $1.35 million. However, Halter will likely start at shortstop for Detroit, and Johnson will probably be relegated to back-up status by Chris Gomez.

Sean Lowe signed a one-year $950,000 contract with the Pirates last Friday. He had a fairly good year last season with over 2 K/BB. Pittsburgh will probably need to use him exclusively as a starter this season. Lowe prefers starting, likely because he realizes starters receive higher salaries, and he does walk far less batters as a starter than in relief. However, he also allows a greater number of hits when starting, and that could cause some problems with the mediocre Pirate defense and uncertain bullpen. He's probably a good sign at less than a million as he has potential, but he could also struggle in his first full year in a rotation. Pittsburgh will need to be careful not to overwork him, since he's not accustomed to the IP of a regular starter.

Armando Rios also avoided arbitration with Pittsburgh, working out a one-year $925,000 deal with the Pirates on Friday. The Pirates might have gotten a bargain here if Rios can stay healthy and play full-time. I would have considered signing him to a multi-year contract, but with his knee injury I can understand why Pittsburgh didn't. As long as he doesn't demonstrate any continuing injury problems, I would expect them to attempt to lock him into a long-term contract during the 2002 off-season, since he should be a part of their plans for the future. It would be a mistake to let Derek Bell take playing time away from Rios, merely because Bell has an expensive salary.

St. Louis signed Eli Marrero to a one-year, $850,000 contract on Friday. This is a great price for a catcher who has enough of a bat that the Cardinals will consider giving him time at other positions as well. He should be the back-up to defensive stud Mike Matheny. St. Louis will be making a big mistake if they take time away from Marrero and give it to Mike DeFelice. The club probably should have signed Marrero to a multi-year contract while he's still relatively inexpensive, since if he performs as well as he could, they might be looking at closer to $2 million next season.

Mike Venafro signed a one-year, $812,500 contract with Oakland last Friday. I'm not sure why the A's insist on overpaying for their lefty relievers, but this signing fits the established pattern. Frankly, I'm not certain what the club is going to do with their trio of lefty relievers named Mike, as with Barry Zito and Mark Mulder in the rotation, they hardly need Holtz, Magnante, and Venafro. All of them are signed to sizeable contracts, so I expect them to be on the roster, but I would highly recommend the A's try to trade one of them as the team has several competent right-handers ready to step in.

Last Wednesday, Doug Mirabelli signed a $650K, one-year contract with Boston. The Red Sox negotiated a fairly good deal with their backup catcher, especially considering starter Jason Varitek's health problems.

Mike Redmond signed a one-year, $650,000 deal with Florida last Friday. The Marlins also received a bit of a bargain. Redmond is a good back-up catcher and hits exceptionally well against left-handed pitching, with a career .346 BA and .409 OBP. However with Charles Johnson starting, they really don't have room for both Redmond and Ramon Castro on the roster, so one of the two should be traded this spring. Castro has starting upside, so he'll likely bring more in trade, but this contract definitely makes Redmond attractive. If they didn't have Castro, I would have strongly recommended they signed Redmond to a multi-year deal and probably would have considered it anyway.

The Dodgers signed Odalis Perez to a one-year, 625,000 contract last Friday. Considering that Perez has not yet had an extended opportunity to prove himself but still has a lot of potential, this is likely a good price for both sides. LA will need to clear some room in the rotation before Perez has a chance to earn some real money, though he could see some time if one of the starters becomes injured. If the Dodgers are unable to sign Kazuhisa Ishii, then Perez will compete with Eric Gagne for the fifth starter's slot in Spring Training.

Abraham Nunez signed a one-year, $550,000 contract with the Pirates last Friday. Not to be confused with the Florida outfield prospect, Nunez is a solid back-up middle infielder who the Pirates should seriously consider starting for at least a few months so that Jack Wilson can return to AAA to mature and work on his plate discipline. At the very least, I would expect him to receive a substantial number of at bats as a back-up given the lack of quality in the Pittsburgh infield, and this is a nice price for a good bench player with potential.

Free agent Matt Stairs signed a one-year, $500,000 contract with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. The Brewers actually made a smart decision with this acquisition at this price. Stairs hits fairly well against right-handers, with a .273 BA and a .516 SLG versus lefties over the last five years. While I don't like encouraging the further development of a platoon split in Alex Ochoa, Stairs will likely provide the team with some much needed production and could help cover if the Brewers needed to juggle the offense after a mid-season injury to a position player (Jeffrey Hammonds).

The Pirates signed Adrian Brown to a one-year, $450,000 contract last Friday. Considering Brown's injury problems, it makes sense that he wouldn't see much of a raise this year. Provided the shoulder tendinitis doesn't reappear, Brown should be playing in centerfield and leading off for Pittsburgh. However, he does need to worry about Chad Hermanson, who I believe is out of options, as the Pirates have a fairly full roster carrying three catchers. The best-case scenario for Brown would be if the club cut Derek Bell and then traded Hermanson and one of their infielders. Until something along those lines happens, he will have to play well to earn a roster slot.

Last Friday, Charles Gipson signed a one-year, $450,000 deal with the Mariners. While Gipson has some use as a utility player, he has no hitting ability, and Seattle already has Alex Arias, Mark McLemore, and now Desi Relaford rostered. There is really no reason for Gipson to be on the roster when Seattle lost four players to the major league Rule 5 draft, let alone earning more than the major league minimum.

Milwaukee signed lefty reliever Valerio de los Santos to a one-year, $300,000 contract last Thursday. De los Santos made only one appearance last season before having Tommy John surgery, so it makes sense that his price would be somewhat discounted. Even though he's a reliever, I'm not sure he'll be ready to pitch when the season starts, as it usually takes at minimum a year to recover from Tommy John and usually much closer to between 18 months and 2 years.

In other news, Ross Gload, who went to the Mets in the three-way, 11 player trade Monday, was traded back to the Rockies for cash. New York DFA'd him earlier in the week, Colorado had DFA'd him before the first trade, and while the Rockies designated left-handed reliever Todd Belitz for assignment to make room for him on the roster, he likely won't make the team out of Spring Training. Nevertheless, as we discussed in the article covering the eleven-player trade, he does have some potential, so this development slightly evens up the score between Colorado and New York in the three-way.